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  “It appears as if your investigator was quite thorough.” Her voice did not reveal the inner turmoil she always felt whenever she recalled the shame and embarrassment of coming face-to-face with her ex-boyfriend and her best friend and colleague in the private dining room at a restaurant overlooking the East River. It had taken Herculean strength not to retrieve her coat and leave. She managed to stay until the end and then got into her car and drove home. Within minutes of walking into her bedroom, she went online and searched for vacation websites. It hadn’t mattered that it was two weeks before Christmas and many of the airline deals were blacked out. Throwing caution to the wind when it came to price, Taryn decided to rent a villa in Fiji where she spent six glorious days detoxing from bad karma. She returned to the States tanned, rested and ready to start over.

  “That’s because I have to be able to trust you to be around my children. The contract is for a year, beginning January 1 with an option to renew or opt out thirty days before December 31. You’ll notice I’ve included a clause where I’m willing to pay for your medical insurance. Once you give me your tax information, I’ll have my accountant add you to our payroll. All employees get paid on the fifteenth and the last day of each month.”

  Taryn glanced at the contract again. The language wasn’t filled with the legalese she would usually have to ask her attorney father to interpret. She picked up the pen and scrawled her name where indicated on all three copies, dated it and then gave them to Aiden to countersign. “It appears very straightforward.”

  “That’s because down here most of us are plainspoken. After breakfast, I’ll give you a tour of the house and show you where you’ll have your private quarters.”

  “Will I have space to set up a classroom?”

  “Yes. The enclosed back porch and sunroom should give you more than enough space for what you’ll need. A cleaning service comes in every Friday morning, so I don’t want you to do any housework. And you don’t have to concern yourself with cooking, because I’ll prepare meals in advance for breakfast, lunch and dinner.”

  “When are your daughters coming home?”

  “January 25. Why?”

  “I’m going to need to order furniture and school supplies before I begin instruction. Once I return to New York, I’ll order what I need from a teacher store warehouse and have everything shipped down here.”

  “There’s a warehouse in Beckley where you can get most of what you’ll need.”

  “Do they have desks?” she asked.

  “Yes,” Aiden said, as he added grits to the pot of boiling water and stirred the grains with a wooden spoon. “I looked them up online when I first decided to homeschool my girls.”

  “What if I buy the supplies I need in New York and have them shipped to Jessica’s house, and then when I come back, you can take me to Beckley for the furniture.”

  Aiden smiled and a network of lines fanned out around his large luminous eyes. “That’ll work. I’m off tomorrow and if you don’t have anything planned, I can drive you up to Beckley so you can select the furniture.”

  Now that she’d signed the contract, Taryn was committed to Aiden’s children for the next year. “Okay. We’re on for tomorrow.”

  Aiden lowered the flame under the pot of grits. “When do you plan to go back to New York?”

  “December 30. I have to pack up my clothes and personal items and go to the teachers store and get the supplies I need for the classroom. If I get everything done in a couple of weeks, then I’ll call and let you know when to expect me.” Once she tied up all of her loose ends in New York, she planned to meet with a few of her former colleagues for a farewell dinner at one of her favorite Brooklyn restaurants before returning to West Virginia.

  “You don’t want to use a store down here?”

  Taryn shook her head. “I’d rather go to the one I know will have the supplies I want.”

  “I’ll give you a check to cover whatever you need to buy.”

  Taryn shook her head again. “That’s not necessary. It’s the middle of the school year and some items may be on sale, and coupled with my teacher discount, I may not have to spend too much.”

  “Make certain you give me the receipts so I can reimburse you.”

  She wanted to tell Aiden she wasn’t concerned about him reimbursing her. The fact that she would earn the same salary and live rent-free, while not having to gas up her SUV at least twice a week was like winning top prize in a contest. And having a classroom of two rather than twenty-two made her feel as if she had been redeemed. “Tell me about your daughters.”

  Copyright © 2018 by Rochelle Alers

  ISBN-13: 9781488093593

  A Bachelor, a Boss and a Baby

  Copyright © 2018 by Susan Civil Brown

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